In what it called a French "paradox", the report said: "The country is considered a must-see destination where expectations are high … but satisfaction ratings are 30 per cent below the European average in terms of price-quality ratio."

Britons deemed the French the least welcoming hosts in Europe, a 2012 poll found.

The TripAdvisor website found foreigners voted Paris the rudest city in Europe, while other researchers have reported that visitors thought it had the least friendly locals, the most unpleasant taxi drivers and the most aggressive waiters.

France has made several attempts in the past to improve local attitudes to tourists.

In 2013, the Paris Tourist Board distributed a "politeness manual" for service industry workers. Three years earlier, the city paid "smile ambassadors" to be friendly to tourists at the city's main attractions.

But Mr Fabius said new measures would go further, saying a better reception for foreign visitors, the top two being Americans and Britons, "must become a national priority".

France would extend its fast-track visas to a range of other countries after introducing 48-hour delivery to China, Russia, South Africa, India and Gulf states.

Newcomers in airports and train stations should be greeted with the announcement " "welcome to France" in English and the message "thank you and see you soon" when they depart.

The new investment fund would also allow hotel owners to "borrow more", said the minister, who added that French tourism must improve its digital offering to stop "American websites confiscating" bookings and "taking 20 to 30 per cent from our hoteliers in the process".

France, the foreign minister said, would this autumn launch its own "thousand best restaurants of the world" list, which he promised would the "ranking of all rankings" and "be to gastronomy what the ATP world ranking is to tennis".